Stage 7 : April 25 - Dawsonville - Alpharetta, 142.3 km

All Fraser for the finale

Armstrong posts solid overall win

After winning both intermediate sprints on the way to Alpharetta today, Gord
Fraser (Health Net) also took the sprint to win final stage of Tour de Georgia,
coming around the legendary Mario Cipollini (Domina Vacanze) in the final meters
of the uphill battle. In front of huge crowds on the finishing circuit, Fraser
proved his sprinting prowess once again. He now goes home with the Sprint jersey
and two stages to his name from the second annual Dodge Tour de Georgia, the
race that seems to have re-introduced bike racing to the big time in the US.

Starting in Dawsonville, Georgia today, the stage was flat and fairly uneventful
and the tired peloton was content to piano along the road to Alpharetta. The
action picked up at the intermediate sprints, with Fraser determined to hold
onto the sprint jersey that he had worked so hard to obtain in yesterday's stage.
In the final four finishing circuits the pace picked up again for the last battle
of the team lead-outs between Domina Vacanze and Health Net. Fraser took the
sprint from Colavita rider Juan Jose Haedo who was closely followed by Cipollini
and Ivan Dominguez (Colavita).

Lance Armstrong (US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor) finished safely
in the bunch to win the tour overall, with Jens Voigt (CSC) taking second and
Chris Horner (Webcor) third in the General Classification.

Armstrong validates US stage racing with triumphant win

Although he under-promised by saying he wasn't likely to win the race before
the sophomore edition of the Dodge Tour de Georgia, in the end Lance Armstrong
over-delivered with a solid demonstration of fitness and focus by winning back
to back stage wins and the overall general classification in the Georgia tour.
Much has changed for Armstrong since he won the 1996 Tour DuPont, his last major
UCI race win in America, almost a decade ago. Since then, Armstrong has survived
cancer and dominated the Tour de France since 1999. So it's a rare event when
Lance Armstrong returns to his native shores to race and the folks of Georgia
turned out this week to cheer on Armstrong and the rest of the Tour de Georgia
peloton. Armstrong told Cyclingnews after the final stage of the Georgia
tour that "I was surprised how many people there were all week and culminating
with Saturday's climb and today... there were really tens thousands of people
there, which is fantastic. I didn't expect that and I don't think the other
riders expected that. It was great and I hope it's an indication of what we
can do in the future with cycling and cycling events in America."

Looking forward towards his attempt at a sixth straight Tour de France, Armstrong
was pleased with the evolution of his form. "I don't think we can say anything
is wrong and maybe things are a little hot right now. In fact, [my form] might
be running a little hot right now. So we might need to cool off a little and
certainly take some time off after this race to recover, because it was hard.
I'll have a forced break in a few weeks when I fly back to Europe in a few weeks.
The time trial was a good test, which was a nice surprise and I felt good on
the climbs. April is not a great month for me when it comes to climbing longer
climbs so there were no real problems and I'll kind of keep plugging away. My
training had been going well before [the Georgia tour] but I didn't think I
would feel this good in the race. So I was a bit surprised on day three to get
a couple of wins and get a time gap on the other guys."

Armstrong validated the evolution of American pro road racing with his comments
on the peloton in the Tour de Georgia, saying "Americans as a whole are very
strong and can ride very fast. That comes as a surprise to the Europeans are
here. The style of racing is different, but the depth and strength of the field
is and was a surprise. I think it's great and I wish we had more events like
this that could bring over top level cyclists like Cipollini and the bigger
teams and I wish they were in place so we could use them to prepare for races
like the Tour. But unfortunately right now, there's not many options... but
there's some good bike riders here." With two stage wins and the overall GC,
Armstrong did a good job for his current title sponsor, the United States Postal
Service, who officially announced during the Georgia tour that they would not
continue after nine years of sponsorship.

Chris Horner (Webcor Builders) started the Tour de Georgia wearing dossard
number one as defending champion from the 2003 edition. Horner rode strongly
all week but didn't have the long, hard European races in his legs to beat Armstrong
and Georgia tour runner-up Jens Voigt (CSC). Horner was happy to share the podium
with Armstrong and Voigt, but felt he could have ridden better. "With this level
of field, my performance is pretty good. I had a shot at the win, but I just
didn't quite have the legs to get the job done. Lance was riding superbly and
he didn't falter on the big climb on Saturday. Third place is pretty satisfying."

Horner was disappointed that when he attacked on Friday's steep climb of Wolfpen
Gap, CSC didn't make a move to try an isolate Armstrong. "I thought we had an
opportunity to attack [Armstrong] but the guys in the group weren't willing
to put it on the line and start attacking," he said. Horner showed why he is
America's top domestic rider in Georgia with aggressive racing all week, but
faced with two powerful Division One teams like USPS-Berry Floor and CSC, he
and his Division Three Webcore squad where just outgunned. Armstrong and Ekimov
were both in the top five, while CSC's Voigt and Julich were second and fourth.
Jittery Joe's climber Cesar Grajales won the difficult stage six to Brasstown
Bald, which moved him up to 6th on GC. Rounding out the top ten was a mix of
old and new, with old hands Scott Moninger (Health Net) and Eric Wohlberg (Sierra
Nevada) and neo-pros Sergio Mariangeli (Domina Vacanze) and Brian Vandborg (CSC)
rounding out the top ten.

Other category winners at the Tour de Georgia were Health Net's Gord Fraser,
who had a sensational race in Georgia with two stage wins and the sprinter's
jersey. His Health Net teammate Patrick McCartney benefited from his solo break
in Friday's Stage Five to Dahlonega to capture the KOM jersey, while best young
rider classification was taken by USA Cycling's Kevin Bouchard-Hall who finished
in 29th on GC, 10:59 down on Armstrong.